


Anything Can Happen When You Take a Chance

by bandable



Series: skz works [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - High School Musical Fusion, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Angst, Basketball, Cute, Dancing and Singing, Dialogue Heavy, Extremely Dialogue Heavy, Fluff and Angst, High School, High School Musical References, How Do I Tag, Light Angst, M/M, Set in America, Singing, Theatre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-03-18 19:51:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13688628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bandable/pseuds/bandable
Summary: Seo Changbin had a lot of expectations for the new year. Win the state championship, pass his classes, maybe even score a date with the hottest kid in school. He didn't expect to become so infatuated with the quiet boy, Lee Felix, that he's forced to sing a duet with at a New Year's Eve party, let alone come back to school to find out that thesameboy has transferred to his high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Suddenly, both Changbin and Felix have found themselves with an unwanted callback for the musical, two opposing social groups wanting their relationship to disappear, and a conspiring sibling duo that will do anything in their power to keep their rule over the drama club and the school.This really is the year thateverythingchanges.AKA ; the High School Musical and Stray Kids combo that no one actually wanted, but I decided to write anyway.





	1. Start Of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> adjfkad did i really write this?? yes, yes i did.
> 
> i got this idea after watching high school musical 3 the other night, realizing "the boys are back" is the perfect song for minho/felix, editing [this](https://youtu.be/8v8y5s3qTQA) video (stray kids as high school musical songs) and getting over 200 likes and 100 retweets on [this](https://twitter.com/xbandable/status/963673005783121921) tweet.
> 
> so, i decided that i need to actually write stray kids in the high school musical world, and so this was created. i hope you all enjoy!!
> 
> really quick tho :
> 
> felix - gabriella  
> changbin - troy  
> jisung - chad  
> seungmin - taylor  
> hyunjin - sharpay  
> minho - ryan
> 
> ((chan, woojin and jeongin will be in this fic, but those are the main six characters so i wanted to establish that haha, i'm creating ocs for the other three))

"He shoots..." Changbin narrates as he throws the basketball in the direction of the basket, over his Dad's head. It goes in, nothing but net. "And he  _scores_!"

His Dad whips around, grinning as he watches the ball bounce a few times on the court, before grabbing it. "Nice one, Bin! You play like that in the championship game, we'll win. No doubt about it."

His Dad bounces the ball to Changbin, "Let's go again." Changbin says, getting in position when the sound of high heels clicking on the court stops him.

He looks over, surprised to see his Mom all dressed up. "Mom?" He asks, confused.

"...Did you forget?" She directs the question to her husband, who was currently sweaty and wearing gym clothes.

"Forget? Pft, no!" He shakes his head, pauses, "Forget what?"

She groans, rolling her eyes, "The party! Come on, it's New Year's Eve, go shower! You too, Changbin. There's a kid's party downstairs." She crosses her arms.

His mom wasn't a woman you wanted to cross, ever, but add in her being frustrated, there was no way Changbin was going to get out of this. However, he was a junior in high school! He wasn't about to go to a  _kids_ party and hang out with a bunch of thirteen year olds. "Kid party?" He asks apprehensively.

His mom shakes her head, " _Young adult_ party. Come on, let's go! Chop chop!" She turns to leave the court and Changbin groans, tossing the ball in the direction of the basket one more time.

It goes on, and he has to suppress his excitement as his mother spins on her heel to glare at him. "Now, Changbin. Don't make me tell you again."

His Dad discreetly gives him a high five as they head back to their room to shower. Changbin sighs at the thought of having to spend the next few hours at a party with a bunch of strangers, when all he wanted to do was play some basketball, go to sleep and head back to Albuquerque tomorrow to get ready for school next Monday.

-

"Felix, you are not going to sit here and  _read_ for the rest of the night!" Felix's Mom shakes her head, "It's New Year's Eve, we're at a ski resort, and we're starting new in a new town in a few days. Why don't you actually go have some fun!" 

Felix glances up from his book for just a moment, "I'd rather not, Mom. Don't make me, please."

His mom ignores his plea, and plucks the book from his fingers. She closes it after placing a bookmark in it, "Go upstairs and put on some nicer clothes! There's a teen party down the hall, and you have to go and hang out for at least an hour, Felix." 

"Wait, Mom! I was almost done!" He complains, trying to reach for his book, but she moves it out of his reach.

"Go, Felix." She responds firmly.

He groans, "Fine, fine, I'll go. Can I at least have my book back?" Felix holds his hand out for the book, and his mom deposits it into his waiting hands. 

"If I find out you didn't go to the party, Felix, I  _won't_ be happy." She calls as he heads toward the door of the conference hall to go up to their room. "Don't make me upset right as we move again!"

Felix groans. He guesses there really wasn't any way for him to get out of going to this party.

-

Entering the party, Felix quickly finds an open couch cushion to start reading his book again. His mom only said he had to  _go_ to the party, not that he had to actually do party things. He was fine with sitting on this couch and reading through the noise and flashing lights for a little while until he was able to escape back to the quiet of their room.

He could distantly hear the guy running the karaoke machine call out for their next duet. "Who's it gonna be? If we don't have any volunteers we'll use the all-seeing spotlight to choose!"

Felix suppresses a groan at the annoyingly peppy guy.  _All-seeing spotlight_? What kind of bull--

Suddenly a bright light was in his face. He looks up, shielding his eyes as someone pulls him up and takes the book, pushing him toward the small stage at the center of the room. "W-what? No! No, no, I don't sing." He tries to refuse, but suddenly he's standing on stage next to another boy who looks just as uncomfortable.

"I don't sing, no, wait, stop!" The other boy complains as he's pushed onto the stage.

He glances at Felix, who quickly glances away.

"One day you'll thank me for this!" The peppy guy from before says before stepping off of the small stage, leaving the two to stare awkwardly at the microphones.

A calm piano soundtrack begins to play. Based on the looks of the guy next to him, Felix is sure that  _he's_ not going to sing, which means that Felix wasn't going to either. He wasn't going to embarrass himself alone in front of all these people watching him,  _no way_. This was going to be so awful, both of them just standing up on the little stage, as a karaoke track plays.

But the boy does something surprising. He opens his mouth, and starts to sing, " _Living in my own world_ ," 

Felix was shocked. Not only could the boy sing, but he could  _really_ sing. Felix couldn't be an asshole and not sing now, either, and he definitely wasn't going to sound as good as the boy next to him. Fucking great.

As the boy's part ends, he glances around, and goes to walk off stage. He was sure that Felix wasn't going to sing, if the awkward stance was anything to go off of. Felix takes a deep breath, " _I never believe in, what I couldn't see_."

The boy whips around, looking at Felix, who quickly looks away again. 

As the song builds, the two get more comfortable with each other. Felix stops looking away so quickly when the other looks at him. He starts getting more into the song, and when more people start to watch them, he barely notices. He grins when the other boy takes off his suit jacket and throws it in the crowd, and laughs when he dramatically dances to the song, as well. 

He was sure that this guy had sung before, done some musical theatre or something. He's shocked when he almost falls back off the stage as the other boy walks toward him and he steps back, smiling. He's pushed back up on the stage, and finds himself really enjoying being up on stage singing. People were clapping along to the beat, and Felix finds himself losing sight of the crowd and only seeing the boy in front of him.

As the music slows down, he's brought to the realization that not only could this boy sing, but he was  _pretty_. He didn't know how to deal with being so close to someone that was this pretty, but the other boy didn't make any move to move away as the song ended, so neither did Felix. 

As the rest of the party goers applaud the duo, Felix finds himself blushing as the other boy flashes him a blinding smile. 

"I'm Changbin!" The boy calls over the noise.

Felix grins back, "Felix," He yells back.

The two find themselves out in the snow a few minutes before the clock strikes midnight. "So you've never sung before?" Changbin asks him.

"No, have you?" Felix shoots back.

"Nope," Changbin responds, "I'm purely basketball back home."

"Really?" Felix was shocked, "I don't believe that! You were awesome back there."

Changbin leans in a little closer as they talk more, until they're cut off by more people suddenly surrounding them, and people counting down, " **5** , **4** ,  **3** ,  **2** ,  **1**!" 

Fireworks explode in the sky. Changbin smiles, and looks over at Felix. It feels like they're a lot closer before, and Changbin thinks maybe he could kiss him, until Felix stops, "Oh my god, I should probably go find my mom!"

"Yeah, yeah, me too." Changbin pulls away, "I mean, my mom, not your mom. Can I get your number?"

Felix smiles, "Yeah, totally!"

The two exchange numbers, and take pictures of each other for their contacts. Changbin smiles down at his phone, "So when do you--" but when he looks up, Felix is gone.

He looks around desperately for a moment, not having had enough time to tell Felix all he wanted to. "Felix?"

But Felix was well and truly gone, and despite having his number, Changbin couldn't help feeling like Felix was a light that walked into his life, lit it up, and left just as quickly, leaving it dark.

He wasn't sure that there was anyone in the world who could have made him sing like  _that_ on stage in front of people, and he was gone so quickly. He couldn't help but feel disappointed, and made it his goal to find him tomorrow before he leaves. He needed to see him again, and tell him that somehow, in the few hours they had known each other, he had somehow become so infatuated with him.

 _Felix_...

_Maybe this really was the start of something new?_


	2. It Feels So Right To Be Here With You

The sun shined brightly as Changbin steps off of the bus, instantly greeted by the rest of the basketball team, and the cheerleaders that never seemed to go away. "Yoooo, it's Seo Changbin!" Jisung punches Changbin in the arm as they head toward the school.

"Hey, Jisung." Changbin pushes Jisung off of him, "Happy new year."

"Hell, yeah, it's a happy new year! And it's gonna be a  _Wildcat_ new year, because with you leading us to the championships in two weeks--we have it in the bag!" Jisung cheers.

Changbin grins, "What team?" He calls out.

" _Wildcats_!" The rest of the team around him yells.

This was going to be a great year, even if Felix had walked out of his life so quickly

"Come on, we got Darbus first thing this morning." Jisung groans as the bell rings and everyone goes their separate ways. "I can't wait for another semester of, of  _stories_ , as she likes to call them."

-

Entering East High School, Felix felt like he was actually going to throw up. This was his fifth high school in three years, and  _yeah_ , his mom promised they wouldn't transfer until he graduated but... he  _still_ had to go through the process of being new here, and he really didn't want to.

"I've reviewed your transcripts, Mr. Lee, and I have to say we're really impressed!" The principal leads him up the stairs, toward his first hour.

 _Great_ , Felix thought,  _can't wait to be the freaky nerd again_. It was only a matter of time before the matheletes began to try and recruit him for their team, and God knows Felix struggles with saying no when people are persistent.

"Okay, here's our stop." The principal gestured to the open door, kids still talking mindlessly in the classroom. "I'm sure you'll do great here, Felix, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!"

And just like that, Felix was alone. He walks into the classroom, and hands the teacher, _Miss. Darbus_ , his schedule. Looking at the class that was full, and still talking, he awkwardly tries to maneuver his way to the back, past two boys of similar heights, both dressed impeccably. He passes by two basketball players, and overhears a little of their conversation.

"So you don't remember the night before?" One asks.

"No, not at all. All I remember is pink jelly. I--" The voice trails off, and the bell rings.

"I hope you all had a  _splendid_ holiday." Miss. Darbus begins class. "Alright, there are activity sign ups in the foyer for this semester, including sign ups for our spring musical and the decathlon competition coming up. Mr. Kim Seungmin can answer any questions you have about that."

As Miss. Darbus makes her way around the room, suddenly a phone begins to ring. Felix realizes a second too late that it was  _his_ phone that he forgot to put on silent.

"Ah, the cell phone menace has begun again!" Mis. Darbus exclaims fake cheerfully, picking up an empty paint bucket. "Hyunjin, Minho, cell phones,  _and_ detention." She holds the paint bucket out to them.

The one in the front drops his phone in the bucket, scoffing as the other one does as well. Felix glances quickly at his phone, seeing a message from Changbin, but has no time to answer it before Miss. Darbus is in front of him. "We have a zero toleration policy for cell phones, so you and I will get to know each other in detention. Cell phone."

Felix flushes at the attention suddenly brought upon him and drops his phone into the paint bucket quickly. "Welcome to East High, Mr. Lee," She says and moves toward the front of the class.

"Mr. Seo, I see your phone is involved as well. Detention."

Felix stares at the boy Miss Darbus had stopped in front of, and his heart soars.  _No way_ , there's no way that the boy he sang karaoke with at a ski resort in the middle of no where goes to the same school that Felix transferred to. This was too good to be true! These types of things don't just happen to people, especially not Felix.

"No, no, that's not a possibility, Miss. Darbus! We have basketball practice and Changbin is--" 

Jisung is cut off, "Ah, so fifteen minutes for you too, Mr. Han, count them."

Kim Seungmin scoffs at the back of the class, whispering to a friend, "That could be hard for Jisung, as he probably can't count that high." 

The friend, Yang Jeongin, laughs and high-fives him. "Nice,"

"Mr. Kim, Mr. Yang, fifteen minutes for you two, as well. Holidays are  _over_ , people. Now, would anyone else care to join them? No?" Miss Darbus slams the bucket onto the desk.

The class falls silent, "Perfect."

-

As the bell rings, Felix watches Changbin get up and leave with the boy who had tried to defend him and scored a detention himself too. Felix tries to scoop up his stuff as quickly as possible, wanting to try and catch up with Changbin and have a bit of a freak out moment together, hopefully.

As he exits the classroom, Changbin is there, leaning against a wall, trying to be discreet. "Hey!" He calls and falls into step next to Felix.

"Oh my god, I don't believe it!" Felix grins.

"Me either, but how?" Changbin asks, "I tried to find you at the lodge the next day but--"

"We left first thing in the morning. My mom's company recently transferred her to Albuquerque. I had no clue you lived here."

"Yeah, this is just so--" 

"Why are you whispering?" Felix asks, and Changbin jumps a little.

"Oh! Oh, uh... My friends, they know about the snowboarding thing but... but they don't really know about the singing thing, you know?" 

"They can't handle it?" Felix jokes.

"It was cool! But, my friends... it's just not what I do, right? That was like a different person." Changbin claps his hands together in front of him awkwardly.

"Yeah, no, I get it, totally." Felix  _did_. It was the same way for him, he would have never expected to get up in front of all those people and sing either, but somehow... somehow he did it.

"Uh, anyway, welcome to East High!" They pass by a column in the foyer covered in flyers and sign up sheets, a brightly colored flyer covered in glitter proudly declaring Spring Musical auditions standing out the most, "And now that you've met Miss Darbus, I bet you can't wait to sign up for the spring  _musicale_." 

Felix laughs at the way Changbin mocks the way Miss Darbus pronounces musical. "Ah, I don't think I'll be signing up for anything for a while. I want to get my footing here, learn the ropes first.  _But_ if you signed up, I'd consider coming to the show." Felix jokes.

"Oh, yeah, yeah... I just... that's completely impossible," Changbin jokes right on back.

"What's impossibe, Changbin?" A new voice buts into the conversation, coming around the column. It's one of the two impeccably dressed boys from before.

Felix jumps a little, he had come out of  _nowhere_. "I wouldn't think impossible is even in your vocabulary," He continues, and then looks at Felix, "Oh! How nice of you to show the new student around!"

He turns to the board, and pulls out a pink marker, writing "Hwang Hyunjin" in large, loopy handwriting, taking up almost all of the spots under "pair auditions", finishing it off with a star next to it. He turns around to see the slightly shocked faces on Changbin and Felix, "Oh, were you going to sign up too? My brother and I have starred in all of our school's productions and we  _really_ welcome new comers. There's a lot of small roles in the show, I'm sure we could find something for you!"

Felix shakes his head quickly, "Oh, no. I was just looking at all the bulletin boards here. There's a lot going on at this school."

He begins to walk away, and glances at Hyunjin's name once more. "Nice handwriting," He says, and Hyunjin gives him a fake smile as he walks away.

Changbin smiles as he watches Felix leave. He goes to head to the gym when Hyunjin stops him. "So. How was the star's basketball player's vacation? What'd you do?"

Changbin doesn't want to be  _rude_ , but he doesn't really want to talk to Hyunjin. Sure, Hyunjin was easily the hottest kid in their grade, but he was also intimidating as hell, and basically ran the school. He wasn't someone who Changbin really wanted to associate with if he didn't have to. "Oh... you know, basketball, snowboarding, basketball."

Hyunjin nods his head, "Right. Hey, promise you'll come see me in the musical?"

If promising was what it took to get out of this conversation, hell yeah. "Sure." He goes to walk away,

"Toodles!" Hyunjin calls after him.

He pauses, turns and waves, "Toodles," He mutters, and heads to the gym.

Jisung would kill him if he missed their open gym during second hour, especially if they were going to have detention later, as well. Felix would have to wait, but he couldn't believe that he was  _here_. At East High! What were the chances? This year was already off to a great start.

He had the State Championships in two weeks, the guy he had met at a ski resort was now attending the  _same_ high school as him, and despite the one detention he already had, he felt pretty good about having a decent track record this semester. 

If only he could get the thought of  _singing_ out of his head.

 


	3. Get Your Head In The Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to thank you all for your guys' love and support of this story already! it's barely began and you guys have all been so kind and lovely and i appreciate it very much!!
> 
> i'm hoping to crank out at least three or four chapters this week for you guys, but we'll see what happens. :-) i'm glad you guys are enjoying it thus far! (but i mean, it's high school musical, and who doesn't like high school musical?)
> 
> if all goes well and everyone really likes my writing style etc. i may go through and write a sequel to this as high school musical 2. (i've seen multiple fics in different fandoms w/ high school musical 1, but haven't seen many, if any, of high school musical 2/3. maybe i'm one of the first?)
> 
> okay, okay, i'll stop rambling now bc most of you probably don't even read this. thanks again, now enjoy this chapter!

In the gym, Changbin begins to stretch next to Jisung. "Hey," He starts, "Is it true that you get extra credit for just trying out for the musical?"

Jisung stops what he's doing, and looks at Changbin in disbelief, "Who cares? It's the  _musicale_."

Changbin stretches his arms out, "I don't know, I mean it's always good to get extra credit, you know?"

Jisung stands up, "Dude. The music in the musical isn't even rock or rap, it's all...  _showtunes_ and costumes and make-up and shit. It's not worth the extra credit."

"Yeah, yeah," Changbin nods his head, scoffing a little, "Just thought it might be a good laugh... Hey, and I mean, Hyunjin's pretty cute, too."

Jisung laughs, and pats Changbin on the shoulder, "Sure, and so is a mountain lion. Just don't get close enough to pet it." He turns away and walks toward the center of the gym.

Changbin sighs. He wishes that social groups weren't so prevalent at East High, and then maybe he would be able to try out for the musical. He really did like being on stage and singing over break, but in a world where basketball players only associate with the cheerleaders, not the drama geeks, it wasn't plausible for him to do so.

"Wildcats, pair up!" He calls, turning around and heading to the center of the gym as well.

Now wasn't the time to start thinking about the  _musical_. Changbin was captain for a reason, and if he wanted to prove that it wasn't just because his Dad was the coach, he couldn't let thought of singing and doing the musical get in the way of working as hard as possible to win the State championships.

He could sing all he wanted in the shower or when he's by himself, but when the big game is in two weeks and the entire team-- _no,_ the entire school--is counting on him to bring the team to victory, he had to stay grounded and stay focused. He had to get his head in the game and keep it there. 

Especially when Jisung throws the ball at him and instead of catching it, it hits him in the face. "Changbin!" His dad, or coach now, yells. "What the hell are you doing? Get your mind out of the clouds and get your head in the game! We don't have time for this."

Right. Right. Basketball.  _Not_ singing.

His  _head_ was in the game, but it felt like his  _heart_ was in the song. How did one person in such a short amount of time make him feel like this? Felix even explained that he didn't sing that much either! It wasn't like everything was standing on him doing the musical, things would be just fine if he didn't. So why did he feel like he wants to do it so badly? Should he really go for it?

 _No_ , he thought,  _get your damn head in the game, Changbin._

-

Felix's attention was brought from his chemistry notebook to Hyunjin leaning over the counter. "It seems like you knew Seo Changbin." Hyunjin said, shrugging.

Felix glanced at him, "Not really, he was just showing me around." He turns back to the board, furrowing his eyebrows and looking back down at his notebook.

For one, he wasn't sure  _why_ Hyunjin cared about what he was doing with Changbin. Hyunjin didn't even know Felix, and had no reason to be...  _threatened_ or anything by him. Changbin was just a friend... for now. And from what Felix could tell, Changbin didn't want anything to do with Hyunjin anyway. His relationship, or lack thereof, shouldn't be of any concern to Hyunjin. Especially because it wasn't like him and Changbin were planning on auditioning for the musical and taking away Hyunjin's and Minho's big roles. Felix was just new, and Changbin was being nice. That was all there was to it.

"It's just that... Changbin doesn't normally interact with new students." Hyunjin shrugged, crossing his arms over the table.

"Why not?" Felix asks, not completely paying attention to Hyunjin as he tries to figure out why what he had in his notebook wasn't matching up to what the teacher was writing on the board.

"Well, it's usually just basketball 24/7 for him." Hyunjin answers.

Felix glances at his notebook one more time, "That should be sixteen over pi," He mutters.

"What was that, Mr. Lee?" The teacher asks, turning around.

Felix's face flushes a little, "Oh, I'm sorry, it's just..." He pauses, not noticing Kim Seungmin's head shooting up next to him, "Shouldn't the second equation read sixteen over pi?"

The teacher laughs a little, "That's quite impossible because--" She cuts herself off as she looks down at the text book, "...I stand corrected,"

Felix smiles, turning back to his notebook, and writing the equation down. Seungmin tilts his head to the side, tapping his pencil, thinking. The decathlon team needed another member... maybe Lee Felix was the answer.

"Oh, and welcome to East High, Felix." The teacher says, smiling pointedly at him.

Felix nods his head, and turns back to his notebook. If he could get on the good side of at least  _one_ teacher today, he'd be happy.

Hyunjin looks at Felix, mouth agape in disbelief. There was something up with Felix, he  _knew_ it. Something that he wasn't telling anyone. He didn't know what it was, or why Felix wasn't telling anyone, but he was going to get to the bottom of this. Felix wasn't going to just come in here, seemingly steal Seo Changbin out from under his nose, and climb the popularity ladder without working for it. Oh, no, that just wasn't going to fly.

Hyunjin tapped his fingers on the desk, he was sure that with Minho's help, he could dig up whatever secret past Lee Felix was hiding. Maybe he was expelled from his last school or was on the run from someone... There was something fishy about Felix, and Hyunjin  _hated_ sea food.

-

Changbin glances around the corridor one last time before walking around the column where musical sign ups were placed. He just wanted to look, maybe someone else he knew signed up and he could have an excuse to go to auditions, just to watch! He wasn't going to audition himself or anything, no way. He scans the audition list, finds the time and place, and makes a mental note to stop by. Just to watch. He nods, and walks away, completely missing Minho, who was across the hallway watching him.

After Changbin walks away, Minho starts to move to the flyer, catching Hyunjin's arm on the way, and pulling him. "Ow, Minho, what?" Hyunjin complains, rubbing his arm.

"Seo Changbin was just looking at our audition list!" Minho points at the flyer.

Hyunjin furrowed his eyebrows. "Again?" He asks.

"Again?" Minho parrots, "He's looked at it before?"

"Him... him and the new kid, Felix? They were looking at it earlier too." Hyunjin crosses his arms. "There's something freaky about him... where did he say he was from, again?"

Minho doesn't answer, just looks at the flyer again. Hyunjin sighs and rolls his eyes, "Come on, Minho, we have some stalking to do."

"What? Why?" Minho asks, confused, but follows Hyunjin to the library anyway.

"Don't ask questions, just follow me. I'm going to figure out what's up with Felix." Hyunjin explains, sitting at one of the computers and pulling up google.

"Have you thought that maybe nothing's up with Felix? Maybe Changbin was just being nice and introducing him to East High. That  _is_ a possibility, Hyunjin." Minho pointed out.

Hyunjin shook his head, typing in Felix's name. "No, trust me, Minho. Changbin and Felix were acting too...  _close_ for Changbin to just be showing him around. I know that Felix has something that he isn't telling anyone." 

The results load, and Hyunjin gasps excitedly at the first result. "15 Year Old Whiz, Lee Felix, Leads Scholastic Team To National Championship?" Minho reads out loud,  as Hyunjin clicks on the link and a picture of Felix loads holding a trophy. "So a mini-Einstein... Damn. Why do you think he's interested in our musical?"

Hyunjin taps his fingers on the desk, thinking again. "You know, I'm not sure that he  _is_... Besides, no need for us to concern ourselves with amateurs. However," He pauses, clicking on print, "There's no harm in making sure that Felix is joining welcome to school activities that are... well, appropriate for his intellect level."

Minho laughs and nods, "I like the way you think."

"I mean, after all, he  _loves_ pi." Hyunjin mutters.

Minho furrows his eyebrows, "What? How does that even make sense?"

Hyunjin stands up and grabs the copies of the paper that he had printed. He groans, "Ugh, Minho, if you can't keep up just don't ask." 

Minho lets out a humph, "Fine, god."

Hyunjin shakes his head, grabbing his designer bag. "Come  _on_ , we have some flyers to plant."

Why Felix wanted to keep his Scholastic Genius to himself, Hyunjin didn't know. However, he was going to make sure that it didn't stay a secret for long. Once Kim Seungmin caught sight of  _this_ , Felix was going to be pestered until he agreed to join the decathlon team. Once Felix was... preoccupied by the menace that was Seungmin, Hyunjin wouldn't have any problems in gaining back the attention of Changbin. It was fool-proof. Felix would join the decathlon team, Changbin would become interested in Hyunjin again, and Hyunjin and Minho would score the lead roles in the musical  _again_.

And all would be right with the world.


	4. Maybe This Time We'll Hit The Right Notes

_Detention_

Miss Darbus was walking around the stage frantically, where multiple students were set up in different areas, sewing costumes, working on make-up ideas, or working on the set. "More gold!" She exclaims at a student sewing a dress, who puts their hands up in surrender and nods.

Felix pauses painting when she walks by, "Paint, paint, let's go, Mr. Lee!" She exclaims.

Felix jumps, and paints a bit more frantically as she walks away. The sound of footsteps coming up and stopping in front of him makes him stop and look up.

Kim Seungmin and Yang Jeongin stand in front of him, both holding a piece of paper and his own paint bucket. "The answer is yes!" Seungmin says excitedly.

"Huh?" Felix responds intelligently.

What in the ever-loving hell was Seungmin talking about? Felix hadn't asked him any questions, in  _fact_ , he hadn't actually talked to Seungmin at all! All he knew was that he was in multiple of his classes and was the captain of the scholastic decathlon team.

Felix was so shocked by the sudden interaction with Seungmin and Jeongin, he didn't notice both Hyunjin's and Minho's attention turning toward them.

"Our Scholastic Decathlon team has our first competition next week, and there is  _certainly_ a spot for you!" Jeongin bounces on his heels, happily.

Felix finally gets a glance at the papers they're holding. They're news articles from when he won last year's national championships. How did Seungmin get those? "Where did those come from?" He asks, shakily.

"Didn't you put them in my locker?" Seungmin asks, tilting his head.

He was sure that after Felix had gained the support of their chem teacher that he had put the articles in Seungmin's locker as an indirect way to ask to be on the team. Was that not what happened?

"No, of course not!" Felix exclaims, and then feels bad as the duo deflates.

"Oh." He reapplies his smile, "Well, we'd love have you on our team, anyway. We meet almost everyday after school!"

Felix hesitates. He feels bad now, and he knows he has the capability to do well on their team and help them out, but he wasn't prepared to join anything right now. "Please?" Jeongin asks, hopefully.

Felix sighs, "I really think I need to get caught up on the curriculum here before I even start thinking about joining any clubs." He explains.

The two look ready to take the defeat and move on, when another voice comes into the conversation. "Well, what a  _perfect_ way to get caught up!" Hyunjin walks over, leaning against the massive moon that Felix was painting, "Meeting with the  _smartest_ kids in school." 

Seungmin grins at the emphasis on smartest. Hell yeah they were the smartest kids in school, and he held that title with pride. He didn't wake up early every morning to come to school and  _not_ work his ass of to become valedictorian. No way.

"What a generous offer, Seungmin!" Hyunjin continues, and Seungmin smiles even wider.

Jeongin coughs. "And... and--" Hyunjin tries to place his finger on the other's name, but couldn't remember it.

Jeongin sighs, crossing his arms. "Jeongin."

"Right! Right, Jeongin. Seungmin and Jeongin." Hyunjin nods, firmly, tapping his head, as if he would actually make an effort to remember the names. (He wouldn't.)

Their conversation was cut off by Miss Darbus walking by again, "So many new faces at detention today. I'm hoping none of you make any habit of it, but the drama club could always use the help. And while we're working, why don't we think about the epidemic that has brought you all here today,  _cell phones_." 

Changbin groans from his spot on top of a massive tree where he was stapling paper leaves. Jisung sighs from inside the tree, leaning his head on the tasteful, but cheesy, hole in the middle. 

-

A whistle echoes throughout the gym. "Wildcats, huddle up!" Coach Seo yells, "There's two weeks until the big game so--"

He stops, looking around the gym, noticing the lack of two  _very_ important players. "Where's Changbin and Jisung?"

A light muttering fills the gym as everyone tries not to make eye contact with each other. No one wanted to be the one to break the news to their coach that his son, the captain, and their next best player were in detention two weeks before their championship game.

"Don't make me ask again. Where's Changbin and Jisung?" His voice raises in volume.

"Detention." The rest of the boys mutter in unison.

Coach Seo struggles to not throw his clipboard on the ground. Those two were going to be the  _death_ of him.

Instead, he sighs angrily, handing his clipboard to the assistant coach. "I'll be back."

-

In the auditorium, Changbin was making great use of his time by dangling one of the paper leaves to tickle Jisung's face as he slept while Miss Darbus went on and on about the heinous use of cell phones in the theater.

A new presence in the auditorium makes itself known, "Where's my team, Darbus?" Coach Seo exclaims from the back of the auditorium, making his way to the stage quickly.

Changbin sits up quickly, "What the hell are those two doing in a tree?" He exclaims and Jisung jerks awake.

"It's called crime  _and_ punishment, Seo. Besides, being around the arts is cleansing for the soul, and those boys need it." Miss Darbus responds, crossing her manicured hands across one another.

"Can we have a talk please?" Coach Seo asks, gesturing between him and Miss. Darbus, the anger obvious in his voice, "And you two--gym. Now."

And the scene changes to Darbus and Coach Seo in the principal's office, " _If_ they have to paint sets for detention, they could do it tonight, not during practice!" Coach Seo exclaims loudly, gesturing ambiguously.

Miss Darbus scoffs, "If these were  _theater performers_ instead of athletes, would you seek special treatment?" She shoots right back.

Coach Seo throws his hands up in the air, "Darbus, we are  _days_ away from the biggest game of the season--"

"And we,  _Seo_ , are in the middle of auditions for our Spring Musicale, as well. This school is about more than just boys in baggy shorts throwing balls for touchdowns and strike outs!" Darbus throws her hands up as well.

"Baskets! They shoot baskets!" 

The principal finally cuts in, "Stop. You guys have been having this petty argument since you began teaching here. We are one school, one student body, one faculty! Can we not agree on that."

Thinking they had made an agreement when they fall silent he continues, "So how's the team looking? Changbin whipped 'em into shape, yet?"

Darbus lets out a squawk at the audacity before turning on her heel and leaving the office. If this is how it was going to be, she wanted no part of it.

-

The next morning, when Felix is dropped off at the lawn of the school, Seungmin and Jeongin are waiting for him there. He sighs, but can't find it in himself to be  _annoyed_ by their presence. The day before, after the blow up between Darbus and Coach Seo, the three had sneaked out of the auditorium and had gone to go buy food. Seungmin said it wasn't to try and influence him to join the team, just to introduce him to some good food in the area and get to know him better. Seungmin was actually really funny and nice, and Jeongin, while quieter, was charming, and Felix found himself enjoying hanging out with them.

They fall into step next to each other as they start walking into the school, "Our scholastic decathlon team has never made it past the first round... you could be the answer to our prayer." Seungmin tells him.

"I'm going to focus on my studies this semester and helping my mom with the new house. But, maybe next year." Felix tells him.

"B-" Jeongin tries to interject.

"What do you know about Seo Changbin?" Felix asks suddenly.

Seungmin stops. Seo Changbin? The star basketball player? Why was Felix, an actual  _genius_ , interested in a dork like Seo Changbin? "Changbin? Well, I'm not necessarily an expert on  _that_ particular sub-species. And, unless you speak fluent cheerleader like, 'oh my god, isn't Changbin, like,  _sooo_ totally hot?'..."

"Oh my god, like,  _soooo_ hot, totes!" Jeongin jumps in.

Felix laughs at their  over exaggerated impersonation, "Well, I definitely cannot speak cheerleader."

"Which is why smart people like us live in an alternate universe to Changbin the basketball star." Seungmin finishes, and Jeongin makes a noise of affirmation.

"Well, have you tried to get to know him?" Felix asks, refusing to believe that the boy he met over break was as dull as 'the basketball star'.

"Why don't you see how it all works when you eat lunch with us today?" Jeongin asks, tilting his head like the duo seemingly always does.

It couldn't hurt to sit with someone at lunch and not in a corner by himself. Besides, Jeongin and Seungmin didn't seem like terrible first friends to make, so, maybe that wasn't a bad idea.

"Unless, of course, you'd like to sit with the cheerleaders." Seungmin says, shrugging.

Felix shakes his head quickly, "No, thanks. I think I'll take you up on your offer."

"Great! We'll meet you after fourth hour. Bye, Felix!" Jeongin says, turning left.

"See ya later, Felix!" Seungmin calls as he continues straight down the hallway and Felix turns right.

Had Felix made his first two official friend at this new school? In just a day? That seemed like a new record.

-

"Go left, Changbin, left!" His dad exclaims as Changbin shoots another basket in their court in their backyard.

"Hey... hey, Dad, have you ever thought about trying something new, but you're worried about what your friends would think?" Changbin decides to breach the topic of possibly singing more to his Dad.

It was his Dad, who loved and supported him no matter what. Changbin was sure that if he really expressed a want to do this, that his Dad would support him in that as well, as long as nothing clashed with basketball season. Right?

"What, like going left? No, you're doing great." He responds, grabbing the ball from Changbin.

"No... No, like something  _really_ new and it turns out to be a total disaster and all your friends laugh at you." Changbin continues.

His Dad pauses, "Well, then they're not really your friends, are they? And that's what I was talking about at practice! You guys are a team, and you're the leader! You gotta start acting like one to make the win at the championship a reality."

Changbin groans, it seemed like what he was trying to tell his Dad was going over his head. "No, Dad, I'm not tal--"

"There are going to be college scouts at the game in two weeks too, Changbin. And do you know how much a scholarship for basketball is worth these days?" His Dad tosses him the ball again.

"A lot," Changbin mutters, realizing the chance at discussing the topic more was gone.

"That's right! So let's get your head in the game and make that dream a reality." His Dad agrees, holding his hands open for the ball.

Right. Get your head in the game and make that dream a reality.

Simple.


	5. What I've Been Looking For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things finally pick up in the chapter! 
> 
> also! i went back and wrote jeongin into the last few chapters. it is an oc, so there's no correlation between his characters and any movie character. him and seungmin are now the 'smart kid' duo. imagine taylor, cloned.
> 
> i hope you all enjoy this chapter, and i want to sincerely thank you guys for supporting this story!
> 
> if you want to see, i made a moodboard for this story as well, [here](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DWa4r_1VAAAY2Es.jpg:large)
> 
> and, while you're at it, follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/xbandable)!

"Hey, the entire team is meeting up in the gym during free period, what should we run?" Jisung asks, leaning against the locker next to Changbin.

Changbin pauses. Was he really going to do this? Was he really going to ditch practice to go audition-- _watch_ auditions--for the musical? 

"You know what? I can't make it actually, I gotta catch up on some homework." Yes, Changbin  _was_ going to go audition--watch auditions--for the musical, instead of going to practice with his team, despite the big game being in less than two weeks now.

"Dude, what? How? It's the second day back! I'm not even behind on homework, and I've been behind on homework since preschool." Jisung jokes.

Changbin laughs exaggeratedly, "That's hilarious, I'll catch you later!" 

Changbin turns down the hallway, toward the library. Jisung stops walking in shock, "Homework? There's  _no_ way." 

So instead of doing what he  _should_ do and head to the gym as well, he turns down and starts to follow Changbin down the hallway toward the library as well. It doesn't take long for Jisung to lose sight of Changbin, Changbin being much faster than him. (And smarter, he  _knew_ Jisung was following him and purposefully turned down a deserted hallway into an empty classroom before looping back around.) Jisung sighs, if Changbin was going to lie to him, than that was his own deal. He had a practice to get to.

-

Hiding behind a cleaning cart, Changbin enters the back of the auditorium. He watches the theater kids file in and take their seats as Miss. Darbus gets on stage, a boy standing next to her, as she starts going on and on about how the theater is where true creation is born and the actor finds themselves within the four walls of the theater. "Those of you wishing to audition must understand that time is of the essence. We have many roles to cast, and call backs will be next week. The theater waits for no one, people!"

Changbin stays crouched behind the cleaning cart. "First, you will sing a measure or two so I can get a feeling of whether or not the theater is for you. It's better to hear it from me now than from your friends later. Our composer, Bang Chan, will accompany you  _and_ will be available for rehearsals before callbacks. Let's begin." She says, before leaving the stage to sit in the audience.

Changbin watches as people take the stage. A girl begins, singing the first few lines off key, before Miss Darbus stops her. "Uh-huh... thank you, next!"

The next auditionee was a boy who didn't have the words memorized, trying to read off of his hand. "It's hard to believe, that I couldn't sneeze-see..."

Miss. Darbus takes a sip from her coffee, waving the boy off stage. He takes it as a hint for the next line, "That you were always right, next, to beside me!"

Darbus sighs, "Mark, I admire your courage,"

"This feeling's like no..."

"But your singing..." Darbus pauses, realizing the boy was  _still_ singing and not paying attention to her. "That's a wonderful tie you're wearing!"

The boy looks down at his tie, grinning, "Really?"

"Yes! Why don't you join costume committee instead?" Miss. Darbus offers.

"Oh, okay, yeah, sure!" He says, before leaving the stage happily.

"Next!"

Auditions continue on like this. Girls who think they were better than they were, a girl who sang the song operatically, and a boy who comes on, does a ballet combo, and leaps off, not saying a word.

"Okay..." Darbus flips the page over, "Onto our pair auditions."

Changbin sighs from the back of the auditorium, where he was still hiding behind the cart. This was the type of people interested in the performing arts? He knew there were talented kids at the school, where were they all now? 

The first pair was a boy-girl duo who did a strange spoken-word-slash-interpretive-dance to the piece. "Well that was just... very disturbing, go see a counselor." Darbus tells them, shaking her head.

Changbin inhales sharply. Darbus was  _brutal_ when it came to telling students when they were good or not. "Next!" She calls.

Changbin was definitely not going to audition now. He didn't think he could handle it if Darbus told him he sucked. "Hey!" A voice says happily from next to him, and he jumps about three feet in the air before calming down when he realizes it's Felix.

"So you decided to sign up?" He asks, watching the next pair audition.

"Oh, no, no! I was just watching... what about you?" Changbin asks, trying to act cool and lean against the cart, but it slides away, making him stumble.

Felix laughs, "No." He replies. "Uhm," He looks at the cleaning cart, "Why are you hiding behind a mop?"

Changbin chuckles a little sheepishly, pushing the cart a bit further behind him. "Ah, your friends don't know you're here, right?"

He sighs, knowing that Felix understood. "Right."

Felix nods, and then slides into the auditorium, taking a seat in the very back row next to the exit. Changbin follows him.

A girl opens her mouth to sing, but freezes on stage. Darbus swallows her coffee. "Thank you, next." She says offhandedly, turning the page of her audition packet.

"Uh, Darbus is a little harsh." Changbin whispers to Felix.

Felix turns to Changbin with fake shock on his face, "The wildcat superstar is... afraid?"

Changbin splutters, "No! No, I'm not... not  _afraid_. I'm just... scared."

"Me too," Felix agrees, "Usually."

Their attention is brought back to Darbus, "And so, for our leading roles of Mikey and Arnold, we have one pair signed up. Hyunjin and Minho, I think it might be useful for you to give everyone a bit of a... sense, of what our theatre's all about."

The duo stands up, and Minho goes to walk out of the aisle. Hyunjin puts a hand on his chest, stopping him, and then walking by first. "Gladly, Miss. Darbus!" Hyunjin says as they step on stage.

"What key?" Chan asks as Minho walks past the piano.

"Oh," Minho starts, "We had our rehearsal pianist do an arrangement." 

"Oh." Chan responds dejectedly, sitting down at his piano.

Hyunjin snaps his fingers and the curtains close. A more poppy, up-beat version of the audition song begins to play and Minho and Hyunjin stick their hands out of the curtain, snapping to the beat. After a few measures, the curtains open and the duo starts singing.

Miss. Darbus watches in elation as Chan furrows his eyebrows at the way his piece had been changed so drastically. The duo had obviously practiced a lot. There were in sync choreography and perfect vocals as they perform.

Changbin and Felix exchange glances at the back of the auditorium. Even if Minho and Hyunjin were... rude, to say the least, they were  _good_. No one could deny that. They were dressed to the nines, and their stage presence was unlike anything they had seen before. They had quite obviously dedicated their entire life to the theatre, and it was obvious in their performance.

The song comes to an end, and they pose, panting a little. "I told you not to do the jazz squares." Hyunjin mutters to Minho.

"It's a crowd favorite," Minho shoots back. "Everyone loves a good jazz square."

As there was,  _for some reason_ , no applause, Hyunjin shoots Chan a look. Chan jumps a little and begins applauding, the rest of the people in the auditorium following suit. "Well," Darbus stands up grinning. "Are there any last minute sign ups?"

Felix and Changbin stand up to sneak back into the back of the auditorium. Minho is talking to someone on stage, "Don't be discouraged!" He says happily, "The theater club needs more than  _just_ singers. It needs fans too! Buy tickets!" He says as the girl walks off hurriedly. 

Chan rushes up to Hyunjin who was beginning to walk off stage, "Actually, if you guys get the part, with that particular song, I imagined it muc-"

Hyunjin scoffs, folding his arms over his chest. " _If_ we get the part? Chan," Hyunjin shakes his head condescendingly, "Minho and I have been in  _seventeen_ school productions, and how many times have your compositions been selected?" 

Chan falters under the harsh gaze, "This... this would be the first."

"Which would tell us what?" Hyunjin presses.

"...That I need to write you more solos?" Chan offers.

Hyunjin grins, "Yes, but  _no_ , it tells us that you do not offer direction, suggestion, or commentary,  _and_ you should be glad that Minho and I are here to raise your music out of it's current obscurity. Are we clear?"

Chan falls back into his seat at the piano, "Yes, sir, I mean--Hyunjin. Yes, Hyunjin."

Hyunjin smirks, lifting his bedazzled microphone to his mouth, "Nice talking to you," He says into it, waving and walking away.

Chan sighs turning back to his sheet music. He wishes he had the guts to stand up to Hyunjin but he was just so goddamn intimidating with his perfect hair and perfect outfits, staring you down like he  _knows_ he's better than you. 

"Any last minute sign ups?" Darbus calls again.

Felix looks at Changbin who apparently didn't understand the desperate look. "We should go," He says, pointing behind him.

"No?" Darbus asks, pausing again, "Good. Done!"

Miss. Darbus switches the light off of her desk, and grabs her things. As she's preparing to leave, Felix does the unthinkable. He walks around the corner. "I'd like to audition, Miss. Darbus." He calls.

Changbin puts his hands to his head and then throws them forward, "What are you doing?" He whispers.

"Timeliness would have been on your side here, Mr. Lee. The individual auditions are long over, and I don't see anyone to pair up with you." Miss. Darbus shrugs, putting her bag over her shoulder.

Behind the corner, Changbin was having a crisis. He couldn't just let Felix crash and burn like that! But could he really offer to audition too? His team would have his ass, his  _dad_ would have his ass. He was only meant to come and watch auditions!

Changbin decides to jump into the void. "I'll sing with him." He says, stepping out from behind the corner.

Miss. Darbus hums in shock. "Seo Changbin?" She asks, "Where is your... sports posse, or whatever it's called?"

"Team," Changbin offers.

"Ah," Miss. Darbus agrees, walking down the aisle of seats to the duo.

"But, uh, actually, I'm here alone. I'm... I'm here to sing with him." Changbin gestures at Felix who smiles at him.

"Yes, well, we take time very seriously here at the East High Theater Department. I called for the last minute auditions and you didn't respond. The period is now over. Perhaps the next musical, boys."

And in that moment, Felix and Changbin felt their hearts sink, together.

"I'm sorry," Changbin turns to Felix.

"No, I'm sorry, you didn't have to do that."

"Guess we're both sorry, then." Changbin chuckles sadly.

He wishes he would have had the guts to say something sooner.


	6. Stick To The Status Quo

Felix and Changbin's attention is quickly diverted from a loud thud from the stage. Turning, they see Chan who's tripped, his sheet music everywhere. Felix doesn't even think before rushing up to help him, and Changbin follows suit.

"So... you're a composer?" Changbin asks, "You wrote the song that Hyunjin and Minho just sang?"

Chan nods, "And the entire show?" Another nod.

"That's really cool," Felix offers, smiling at him.

"I can't wait to hear the rest of the show." Changbin says, reaching out a hand to help Chan up. "So, why are you so afraid of Hyunjin and Minho. I mean, it is your show, isn't it?"

"It is?" Chan parrots, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Isn't the composer of a show kinda like the playmaker on a basketball team?" Changbin continues.

Chan doesn't want to be rude, but he's never been into basketball, and so has  _no_ idea what Changbin is referencing. "Playmaker?"

"Oh! You know, the one who makes everyone else look good." Changbin explains, "Without you, there is now show. You're the playmaker."

"I am?" Chan smiles, "Do you wanna hear how the duet is  _really_ supposed to sound?"

Chan sits back down at his piano, and starts playing the same melody line as before, but slower. Changbin leans over to read the sheet music and began to sing. No one else was around right now, and if he missed out on his chance to try something new, he might as well sing now.

Felix picks up on it, as well, joining it. The song was much slower than the way Minho and Hyunjin sung it. It felt like it had more meaning, and when Felix glanced up into Changbin's eyes, he grins.

"Wow, that was really--" Changbin starts, but is cut off from a voice from the back of the auditorium.

"Lee, Seo, you have a callback. Chan, give them the duet from the second act." It was Miss. Darbus, who had come back to grab something she had left in the auditorium when she had overheard the two singing, and she'd be  _stupid_ to not give them a callback. "Work on it with them." She finishes.

"Okay!" Chan responds excitedly shuffling through his sheet music to find the piece.

"If you guys wanna rehearse," He starts talking to Felix and Changbin, "I'm usually here during free period and after school, and sometimes even during biology, if I can get out of it."

Changbin looks around, trying to find a way to get out of this. He hadn't told anyone about him singing yet, and now  _everyone_ was going to find out when Miss. Darbus posted the call back list. What was he going to do? Jisung was going to be pissed at him for lying, for one, and his Dad was going to be pissed that his son wasn't completely focused on winning the State game. He couldn't do this, but Felix seems so excited about it, that he couldn't bear to ruin what was so fresh with him and tell him that he didn't actually want to do the musical.

"You could even come after basketball... class?" Chan directs to Changbin, "Whenever works for me, I'm pretty much free all the time!"

Changbin flips through the sheet music, "What?" 

How did he get himself into  _this_ situation, and how the hell was he going to get himself  _out_?

-

"Callback?" A screech echoed throughout the hallways before lunch.

Hyunjin and Minho stood in front of a flyer on the column where audition sign ups once were. He could  _not_ believe what he was seeing. A  _callback_? And Felix and Changbin was the other duo that had one? In what world did Seo Changbin, star of the basketball team, sing showtunes? And in what world did Lee Felix, the nerdy new kid, sing with him? And in  _what universe_ did they get a callback, potentially stealing Hyunjin's 18th leading role?

"Callbacks for role Mikey and Arnold, next Thursday, 3:30 PM." Minho reads out loud, "Hwang Hyunjin and Lee Minho... and Seo Changbin and Lee Felix?!"

"Is this some kind of joke?" Hyunjin asks, still practically screaming, "They didn't even audition!"

"Oh!" Minho exclaims, "Maybe we're being punked!"

"What?" Hyunjin responds angrily, shaking his head.

"Maybe... we're being filmed right now! Maybe we'll get to meet Ashton!" He grabs Hyunjin's arm.

Hyunjin throws his hand off, almost pushing Minho into the oncoming basketball posse, "Shut up, Minho!"

Jisung laughs, coming over, "What's wrong?" He asks.

Hyunjin doesn't respond, just huffs and points at the list. Jisung leans in so he can read it, and him and the rest of the basketball team fall into shocked silence. "What?" Jisung asks, both angry and hurt.

He switches what hand the basketball is in and turns on his heel walking away. Hyunjin groans in frustration, before walking toward the lunch room, Minho following behind him.

"How dare he sign up!" Hyunjin exclaims, pacing back and forth in front of the drama club table. "I had already picked out the color for my dressing room."

"And," Minho jumps in, "He hasn't even asked our permission to  _join_ the drama club."

Hyunjin slams his hand down on the table, causing Chan to jump and pull his sheet music closer to him. "Someone's gotta tell him the rules."

"Exactly," Minho nods and points at Hyunjin. "And... just to clarify for others who may not know, because I definitely know, what are the rules?" 

"Ugh," Hyunjin furrows his face in disgust, turning and walking over to the barrier, looking over the first floor of the cafeteria.

Something was happening at the basketball table. "Alright, so you know when I'm out on the court there's nothing but net..." One of the basketball players, Woojin, begins talking to the rest of the team sitting with him. "I... I have a secret confession that I need to tell."

One of the other basketball players gestures more people over, "Come on! Woojin's spilling secrets!"

When everyone's around Woojin, he sighs. "If Changbin can tell his secret, then I'm coming clean! I bake."

"You  _what_?" Jisung asks, standing up.

"I love to bake! Strudel, cake, even apple pandowdy!" Woojin grins, and Jisung shakes his head.

"No, that's ju--no." Jisung sits down.

"Someday, I hope to make the perfect creme brulee!" Woojin offers.

Suddenly, he's pulled down to sit, "Dude, no! You gotta stick to the stuff you know." Jisung says, pointing at the basketball on the table. "There's one simple rule you have to follow to be cool, Woojin. Stick to the status quo."

Woojin pouts, but his attention is quickly diverted to the math club a table over. 

"I know I'm super smart, obviously, but... I have something I need to share." Jimin, one of the top students in their grade says.

The rest of the math club look up from their text books. "You can tell us anything!"

Jimin stands up, "Hip hop is my passion. I love to pop, and lock, and break!" As he says these words, he dances a little.

The rest of the math club looks at him in disgust. "Is that even legal?" 

Jimin sighs, "It's just dancing! Sometimes I think it's cooler than homework."

He's quickly pulled back down to his seat, the math club shushing him. "No! Not another word," Jae slides a text book over, "You have to stick to the status quo, Jimin. It's for the best!"

Jimin rests his head against the table, groaning. "I just wanna be a dancer!"

Across the cafeteria, pandemonium was happening at the skater-kid table. "I play the cello!" 

"Cool!" Another skater kid nods, "What is it?"

The original kid acts out playing the cello. "Awesome! A saw!"

"Dude, what? No! It's like a giant violin." The other kid makes a face of disgust.

"Do you have to wear a costume?" 

"Coat and tie!" He smiles, and is instantly pulled to sit down at the table.

"Bro, shut up! We're trying to be the cool kids here, and you're making it really hard by not sticking to the status quo!"

The cafeteria erupts in chaos, and Hyunjin shakes his head from the top of the landing. "No! This is not what I planned," Minho walks over, standing next to him as he watches kids move tables and sit with kids that they  _shouldn't_.

"This is not okay. I don't understand! What is happening?" Hyunjin crosses his arms, "Something is reall-"

"Something isn't right--" Hyunjin lifts a hand to stop Minho from cutting him off more.

"Something is  _really_ wrong. We have to get things back to the way they're meant to be." Hyunjin turns to Minho.

"Yeah, we could do that. If kids would stick with what they  _know_."

The cafeteria seemingly gets louder by the minute. Hyunjin is getting a headache, and he can't take it anymore. It gets louder when a certain Lee Felix walks into the cafeteria by Jeongin and Seungmin. 

"Everybody quiet!" Hyunjin basically screams from the second floor, and the cafeteria falls silent, all eyes landing on Felix.

Felix looks at Seungmin and Jeongin, "Why is everyone staring at you two?"

Seungmin laughs, "Not at us, Felix."

Felix furrows his eyebrows, "They're staring at you." Jeongin offers.

"Wait, why? Because of the callback?! I can't have people staring at me, I really can't!" Felix looks around desperately and the cafeteria erupts again, students yelling about sticking to the status quo and not changing what you know at each other.

Felix tries to navigate his way through the chaos, and doesn't see Hyunjin walking down the stairs toward him. He also doesn't see the spilled milk on the floor. 

It all seems to happen in slow motion. One second, Felix is standing with his food in hand, the next, he's slipping and the gross school lunch on his tray is flying, landing directly in the middle of Hyunjin's perfectly pressed button up shirt.

The cafeteria silences within a millisecond as Hyunjin gasps loudly, as the food falls to the floor and he's met with a huge, greasy stain on his shirt. Hyunjin lets out what he will deny to be a high-pitched scream.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Felix grabs napkins off of the table next to him, instantly trying to help the situation.

Seungmin and Jeongin grab Felix's arms, dragging him away quickly. Changbin had seen the entire thing go down, and is about to intervene, when Jisung stops him. "Whoa, you do  _not_ want to go over there right now. Too much drama."

Changbin lets Jisung drag him to the basketball table, "Yeah, yeah."

Miss. Darbus appears next to Hyunjin, the cafeteria still silent, "What is going on here?!" 

"Look at this!" Hyunjin yells, gesturing at his ruined shirt, "That... that Felix kid dumped his food all over me! On purpose, this is all part of their plan to  _ruin_ our musical! And... and Changbin and his basketball jerks are obviously in on it too!" 

Kids start moving away, trying to stay out of what is soon to be a huge blow up between the drama nerds, the basketball kids, and Felix and his new found friends. "Why do you think they even auditioned?! And after all the hardwork we've put into the program, it just doesn't seem right!" Hyunjin humphs, and turns on his heel, walking out of the cafeteria dramatically, ignoring the stairs.

"Whoa," Changbin moves out of the way as he storms past. "What's up?" He asks Jisung.

Jisung laughs coldly, "What's up? Oh, well, let's see. You missed free-period practice to try out for the damn musical, and now suddenly... suddenly people are confessing!"

Woojin walks by holding a little tin of something, "Oh, oh!" Jisung grabs his arm, "And Woojin is making  _creme brule_ _e_."

"Oh." Changbin nods, "What is that?"

"It's a creamy custard with a caramelized surface. It's really good." Woojin offers a spoon to Changbin, but before Changbin can accept, Jisung butts in.

"Oh my god, no, shut up Woojin!" Jisung exclaims, and Woojin makes a face and walks away muttering a 'fine'.

Changbin shrugs, and sits down at the lunch table. "Do you see what's happening here?" Changbin shakes his head, "Our team is falling apart because of your... your singing thing!"

Changbin shakes his head. He's sure the entire team wasn't falling apart because of this, Jisung was being dramatic. It was just an audition for a musical, it wasn't even like him and Felix were actually going to get the parts or anything. "Look! Even the braniacs and drama geeks think that they can suddenly talk to us!"

Changbin looks around where the previously divided social groups had started to mix, "People are thinking that they... they can  _do other stuff_. It's not right!" 

Changbin is avoiding eye contact. Jisung may be his best friend, but when Jisung is pissed, he's not the best person to be around. "They've got you thinking about showtunes when we have the state championship game next week, Changbin. This isn't the time."

Changbin falls silent, and Jisung sighs, standing up and walking away. "Think about that, Changbin."

Jisung was right... now, now wasn't a good time for this to be happening. But! Callbacks were on a different day than the game, and the musical would be after the season ended. There was no reason why he couldn't do both, and he was sure that everything would turn out  _fine_. Jisung was exaggerating. This wasn't the end of the world, and Changbin deciding to sing a little isn't going to be what breaks up the solid no-interaction group the school had created between social groups. It wasn't  _that_ big of a deal. 


	7. You Were My Fairy-tale, A Dream When I'm Not Sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adifjaijdi i'm sorry for not updating in almost a month!! i ended up moving and had 0 time to actually write anything. (school ends on friday for me, so i should be updating more often after that.)
> 
> also s/o the stray typos groupchat bc i don't know when i would have updated this if it wasn't for them lol
> 
> anyway, i also edited woojin in so go back and reread the last chapter so this one makes sense when woojin just appears :)
> 
> i hope you enjoy!

Miss Darbus, ignoring the fact that this was the  _ boys _ locker room, stomps her way into Coach Seo’s office. “Alright, Seo.  _ All _ cards on the table. Right now.”

He looked up from his newspaper, “What?” 

“You’re upset that I gave your star players detention,  _ fine _ . But now you’re trying to get even?” She asks incredulously, folding her arms.

Coach Seo swings his feet back onto the floor, “What are you talking about?”

“Your allstar son auditioned for my show, and I give  _ every _ student a fair and equal chance, which is a long lasting tradition in the theater. Something  _ you _ wouldn’t understand. But! If he is planning some type of  _ prank _ in my theater--”

“Changbin doesn’t even sing.” Coach Seo takes a bite of his sandwich.

Darbus laughs sarcastically, “That’s where you’re wrong.  _ But _ I will not allow our production of Twinkle Town to be turned into a joke!”

Coach Seo chokes on a laugh, “Twinkle Town?”

Darbus throws her hands up in defeat, “See? I knew it!” She turns on her heel and storms out of the locker room, ignoring the boys standing in the window watching what was going down.

“It sounds like a hit!” Coach Seo yells after her, “Good luck on Broadway!”

-

Felix looks around the lunch room desperately before turning to Seungmin and Jeongin. “Is Hyunjin actually mad at me? I said I was sorry!” 

Seungmin sighs, “Look, no one has beaten Hyunjin and Minho out for a musical since preschool.”

Felix throws his hands up in the air, “I wasn’t trying to beat anyone out! We didn’t even audition, we were just singing and she overheard.”

Jeongin shoves a fry in his mouth. “You won’t convince Hyunjin of that.”

Felix groans, putting his face into his folded up arms on the table. “If Hyunjin could play both Romeo and Juliet, even Minho would be out of a job.” Jeongin finishes, swallowing the fry.

Felix lifts his head up from the table, ignoring the slightly sticky residue. “I’m telling you, it just…  _ happened _ .” He pauses, “But I liked it. A lot.”

Seungmin furrows his eyebrows, taking a loud sip of his drink.

“Like, have you ever felt like there was this whole other person inside of you, just waiting to be let out?” Felix sits up fully.

Both Seungmin and Jeongin share a look before responding in unison, “No.”

Felix slumps, letting out an awkward chuckle but is saved by the bell. “Let’s go!” Seungmin says standing up, and throwing his bag over his shoulder.

-

Hyunjin groans as he opens his locker, looking down at his ruined shirt in disgust. He groans again when Woojin, a basketball player shows up next to his open locker door.

“Hey, Hyunjin, so… I thought that because, you know, Seo Changbin is going to be in your show--”

Hyunjin holds up a finger, “Seo Changbin is  _ not _ in my show.” He declares loudly, before grabbing a shirt out of his locker, holding it up to see in the mirror if it matched his jeans.

“Okay… well,” Woojin continues, “I was just thinking you could watch me play ball sometime.”

Hyunjin laughs quietly, and Woojin grins. “I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.”

Woojin laughs, “Well wouldn’t that be awfully uncomfortable?”

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, “Evaporate, tall person!” He exclaims, before slamming his locker door and turning on his heel toward the bathroom.

Woojin watches him leave, and sighs, “I bake!” He yells after him, and then adds on, “If that helps…” quietly.

He slumps against the wall next to the lockers as Hyunjin doesn’t turn around. He had kind of had a crush on the theater star for a long time, and thought that maybe this was his chance to finally get his attention, but apparently not.

-

Felix jumps as a piece of paper falls in front of his face when he opens his locker. He shakes his head at himself, cursing his capability to be scared so easily, before grabbing the paper and opening it.

_ Felix, _

_ Meet me at the roof garden during your free period?  _

_ \- Changbin _

Felix grins, leaning against his locker. He didn’t know that there was a roof garden, and now Changbin wanted to meet him there? He didn’t want to look too much into it, him and Changbin were just friends, but… it was still a sweet gesture.

He folds up the paper, and heads towards the stairs.

As the garden comes into view, Felix is left breathless. There were so many plants and flowers, it was  _ insane _ . Insane, but beautiful. “It’s like a jungle up here,” Felix breathes to Changbin.

“Yeah!” Changbin grins, “Just like the cafeteria.” He nudges Felix jokingly.

Felix scoffs, “Yeah, well, I just humiliated myself into the next century.”

Changbin laughs, “No, you’re fine! Trust me, stuff like this happens all the time. You’ll be fine.”

“People spill their trays onto the theater star on a weekly basis?” Felix asks, leaning on the metal barrier for the stairs.

Changbin shrug, “Well…”

Felix shakes his head, looking around at all the plants, “So, is this your secret hangout or something?”

Changbin leans against the barrier as well, “Thanks to the science club! Which means, that my friends don’t even know that it exists.”

Felix nods, “Seems like you have the entire school wired, huh? Like everyone on campus wants to be your friend.”

Changbin chuckles a bit awkwardly, before sighing. “Unless we lose.”

“I’m sure it’s hard being the coach’s son.”

“I guess it makes me practice a little harder, having the coach at home with me.” Changbin agrees, before shaking his head. “I don’t know how he’s going to react when he finds out about the whole singing thing. It’s just… my parent’s friends are always saying stuff like, ‘Your son’s the basketball star! You must be so proud!’ but sometimes… sometimes I don’t want to be the basketball guy. I just wanna be… Changbin. You know?”

Felix smiles sadly at him, “Well, I saw the way you treated Chan today.” He walks toward the bench stuffed between two bushes, “Do your friends know  _ that _ Changbin?”

Changbin turns toward Felix, “Well, to them… I’m just the playmaker dude.”

“Well, then they don’t know enough about you, Changbin.” Felix sits, “You see, at my old school, I was just the freaky smart kid. Coming here, I could be whatever I wanted to be. And--and singing with you, I felt like just a guy.” 

Changbin grins, “And you looked like one too!” He points at Felix who bursts out laughing.

Changbin walks over and sits next to Felix. Felix turns to him, “You know how when you’re in kindergarten, and you meet that kid that you knew  _ nothing _ about but within ten seconds you’re playing like your best friends? Because you didn’t have to pretend to be anyone?”

It’s silent for a minute as Changbin thinks before finally nodding, “Yeah.”

“Singing with you… felt like that.” Felix explains.

Changbin turns, trying to hide the blush that’s appeared on his face. “Well, I’ve never thought about singing before, that’s for sure… until you.”

Felix grins, nudging Changbin again, “So you really wanna do the callbacks?”

Changbin pauses again, before throwing his hands up, “Well, just call me freaky callback kid!”

Felix laughs loudly, “You’re pretty cool, Changbin, and not for the reasons your friends think.” There’s a moment of silence, “And thanks for showing me your top-secret hiding place… Like kindergarten.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/xbandable) and scream to me about jeongin


	8. My Heart's In The Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest because of how scenes were happening, but i think it fits pretty well! and no worries, i'm already working on the next chapter 
> 
> because i've officially finished high school!! (unless some stuff comes up and there are things i have to finish) i'm super pumped, and hopefully i'll be able to crank out the rest of these chapters and finish this story soon. 
> 
> thank you for reading!

The next few days pass in a blur of practicing with Chan and trying to perfect the song. Changbin ended up locking himself in a janitor’s closet to hide from Minho while he was trying to practice the song. Felix found himself standing on a toilet seat so that Hyunjin wouldn’t be able to see him in the stalls while he was trying to practice in an empty bathroom.

Neither of them were  _ scared _ of Hyunjin and Minho, per se, just worried. They didn’t know what Minho and Hyunjin were planning on doing, but knew that them following through with the callback wasn’t going to sit well with those two, and so they hid.

Because of the callbacks, the duo found themselves working in the theater department more and more often. Felix and Seungmin had gotten wrapped into working on costumes, while Jeongin and Changbin had been wrapped into helping with painting sets. Changbin was now not only hiding from Minho and Hyunjin, but also from his dad and the rest of the basketball team as he was missing practices to help out instead. With the big came coming up  _ soon _ \--like next week soon--he knew ditching practices wasn’t going to go over well, but Changbin  _ really _ liked Felix, and wasn’t going to give up the chances he was given to hang out with him.

That’s why he found himself running into the gym as his Dad was dismissing the rest of the team. Jisung glares at him as he shoves the basketball into his chest. His dad makes no eye contact with him. “I… I think I’m going to stay a while, work on some free throws.”

A sigh. “Well, since you missed practice, I think your team deserves  _ some _ effort from you.”

Changbin flinches as his Dad leaves the gym, turning to the hoop and throwing the ball. He knew that missing practices wasn’t a good idea, but he really enjoyed singing and hanging out with Felix. How was he supposed to choose between two things that he really loved? He didn’t want to give up singing, but he definitely didn’t want to give up basketball either.

Footsteps on the gym floor broke him out of his thoughts. He turned around to see Felix walking up to him, “Wow,” Felix grinned, “So this is the big stage.” He jokes.

Changbin smiles back, laughing, “Yeah, you could call it that. Or it’s a smelly gym, whichever one.”

Felix grabs the ball from Changbin’s hands, throwing it in the direction of the hoop, and bounces a bit on his heels when it goes in--nothing but net. “Hey!” Changbin nudges Felix’s shoulder, “Don’t tell me you’re good at hoops too!”

“Oh yeah, didn’t you know I once scored 47 points in a championship game?” Felix asks, furrowing his eyebrows, the tone of his voice making it seem like this was common knowledge.

Changbin stops, ball halfway in the air, and it bounces back down. “What? No way!” He exclaims, turning to the other.

Felix catches the ball before it could bounce away. “Oh yeah! It was the same day I invented space travel and microwaveable mac and cheese.”

Changbin processes what Felix says, before nodding and laughing fakely, “Ha, ha, very funny.” He grabs the ball out of the other’s hand and tosses it, sinking a three pointer.

“I’ve been practicing with Chan,” Felix says, watching Changbin shoot a few more baskets.

“Oh, me too. And I missed practice by the way, so if I get kicked off of the team, it’ll be on your conscience.”

Felix turns to Changbin in shock, instantly turning defensive. “Hey! I wasn’t the one who--”

“Felix! I’m joking. I’m joking.” Changbin puts a hand on Felix’s shoulder to calm him down, and Felix retaliates by punching him in the arm.

Changbin yells out in surprise, dropping the ball, which Felix grabs and starts mocking a fake left and a fake right but ends up travelling. “Hey!” Changbin laughs, “That’s travelling!”

“What? This?” Felix does it more, turning and trying to get away from Changbin who chases after him.

“That’s really bad travelling!” Changbin laughs.

The noise from the duo messing around fills the gym, so neither of them hear the doors open, or Coach Seo reentering. “Hey, kid! Sorry, this is a closed practice!” He yells shocking the two away from each other.

Changbin scoffs, “Dad, come on, practice is over.”

His dad storms over, stopping in front of the two, “Until the last player leaves the gym, team rule. You would know this if you bothered to actually show up to practices,  _ captain _ .”

Changbin avoids eye contact, “Sorry,” Felix mutters.

“Uh, Dad, this is Felix Lee.” Changbin introduces. 

“Oh! Your detention buddy.” His dad responds, crossing his arms, and ignoring Felix’s outstretched hand.

Felix nods nce, bringing his hand back in and handing Changbin the basketball. “I’ll see you later, Changbin.” He says, before turning to leave the gym. “Nice meeting you, Coach Seo.”

Coach Seo only nods, and looks at his son. “You as well, Mr. Lee.”

“Dad, detention was my fault, not his.” Changbin defends once Felix has left the gym.

“You haven’t missed practice in  _ three years _ , Changbin. That boy shows up--” 

“That boy,” Changbin cuts his Dad off, “is named Felix and he’s incredibly nice.”

Coach Seo scoffs, “Well helping you miss practice doesn’t seem very nice to me! Not in my book, or your team’s.”

Changbin scoffs, turning his head dramatically, “Dad! He’s not a problem! He’s just a guy.”

“But you’re not!” His Dad yells, “You’re not just a guy, Changbin. You’re the team leader.”

His Dad takes a deep breath. “What you choose to do, kid, not only affects  _ you _ but this entire school. Without you completely focused, we’re not going to win this week. The championship games don’t come around all the time, Changbin. They’re something special.”

“Yeah, yeah, well a lot of things are special, Dad.” Changbin counteracts.

“But you’re a  _ playmaker _ , not a singer, right?” He chuckles awkwardly.

“Did you ever think that maybe I could be both?” Changbin asks loudly. 

His Dad’s face falls. Changbin tosses the ball and walks past his Dad, toward the doors. He ignores his Dad calls to wait, leaving him in the gym with only the sound of the ball to keep him company. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/xbandable)
> 
> i just scream a lot about my love for yang jeongin and na jaemin and how excited i am for stray kids' debut


	9. Creating Space Between Us

The next day Jisung finds Changbin in the library and storms over. "Yo. Changbin." He demands, nudging Changbin's shoulder.

"Oh. Hey." Changbin greets, looking up momentarily, before turning back to the book shelf he was looking through.

"What spell did this elevated-IQ cast that suddenly makes you want to be in a musical?" Jisung aska incredulously.

Changbin sighs, still looking at the shelf. "Look, I just did it. Who cares?" Changbin shoots back.

Jisung scoffs, "Who cares? Who cares? Try you most loyal best friend since kindergarten, Changbin!"

The librarian appears around the corner, "Mr. Han, quiet!"

"It's him, not me!" Jisunf deflects and she disappears between other shelfs with one last glance of disbelief.

"Look," Jisung turns back to Changbin, "You're a hoops guy." He shoves the basketball he always carries into Changbin's hands, "NOT a musical singer person!"

Changbin groans, pushing the basketball back towarss Jisung and continuing down the shelf. Jisung furrows his eyebrows. "Hey! Have you ever seen Michael Crawford on a cereal box?"

Changbin grabs the book he was looking for off the shelf and heads towards the tables in the back of the library. "Who the hell is Michael Crawford?"

"Exactly my point!" Jisung throws one hand into the air, the other still clutching the basketball. "He was the phantom of the opera on Broadway. My mom? She's seen the musical twenty SEVEN times. She put a picture of Michael Crawford into our refrigerator!"

Changbin looks up at Jisung confused as he sits at a table and Jisung sits on top of it. "In? You mean on?"

Jisung shakes his head frantically, "No! In! But my point is, you play basketball, you'll end up on a cereal box. You sing in musicals, you'll end up in a mom's refrigerator."

"Okay, wait," Changbin holds a hand out, "Pause. Why would she put Michael Crawford's picture in your refrigerator?".

Jisung rolls his eyes. "I don't know! One of her weird diet ideas. I don't try and understand her mind, Changbin, it's dangerous territory."

Changbin opens the book and Jisung throws his head back in irritation. "Okay. Look at it this way, how can your team be focused on the big game if you're off somewhere dressed in leotards and singing Twinkle Town?" Jisung asks.

Changbin's head shoots up sharply. "No one said anything about leotards, Jisung."

Jisung shrugs. "Not yet, my friend, but just you wait. My point is, we need you, captain. Big time."

The librarian appears again, "Mr. Han."

Jisung stands up, "I tried to tell him!" He tells her, then turns to Changbin, "I really tried."

Changbin watches Jisung leave the library. He knew that the team needed him, but he was still there! It wasn't like the musical and basketball were two exclusive things. He didn't understand why everyone was so focused on one or the other; why couldn't he do both? Why was it so all or nothing?

-

Hyunjin stops in the middle of the science hallway, holding his hand out. His hand hits Minho in the chest and he stops as well, and Hyunjin turns toward an open classroom door where he had just seen Jisung and Woojin enter out of the corner of his eye. "Something isn't right." He tells Minho, pulling him over to the doorway.

Not only was Jisung and Woojin without Changbin, an unusual sight on its own, they had walked into a science classroom. On any other day, the basketball jocks avoided these classrooms like the plaugue. Inside, Woojin and Jeongin had stopped in front of Seungmin and Jeongin.

"We need to talk," Jisung tells them.

"Okay, go," Seungmin responds.

"They must be trying to figure out a way to make sure Changbin and Felix do beat us out for the musical." Minho tells Hyunjin.

Hyunjin huffs, and Minho leans against the door frame. "You know," He adds, "The jocks run most of the school... If Changbin gets into the musical, they'll own the entire student body."

Hyunjin shakes his head, "And if those science kids can get Felix and Seo Changbin together... The scholastic club goes from drool to cool." He adds. "Let's go, Minho. We have to save our show from these imbeciles who don't know the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk."

Hyunjin grabs Minho's wrist and starts to drag him toward the auditorium. Hyunjin had a plan that would keep both Felix and Changbin out of their show and return the school's pecking order back to the way they should be.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Jeongin asks.

"It's the only way to protect Felix and Changbin from themselves and what could happen if they follow through with the callbacks." Jisung shrugs.

Seungmin and Jeongin share a look before nodding at each other once. "So are you guys in?" Woojin asks.

"Okay." Seungmin agrees.

"Cool, we'll start tomorrow, then." Jisung says.

"Alright. We'll meet you in front of the school first thing with our stuff." Jeongin responds.

"Awesome." Woojin grins.

Jisung and him share a small high five, "Let's go." They both leave the science class, anticipating what was to come.

-

The next morning, Jisung looks around the school yard anxiously. He wanted to do this, as he knew it was what was best for Changbin and the team, but he was worried. If Felix or Changbin saw him and Woojin with Seungmin and Jeongin, there would be instant raised red flags. They never associated, and seeing the four together so suddenly would be sure to spread some rumors and quickly.

"Dude, seriously, chill out." Woojin pulls Jisung to sit next to him at the table. "Changbin doesn't even get here until the first bell."

Jisung sighs resting his face into his hands. "I know, I know... I'm just anxious. But... We have to do this."

Seungmin and Jeongin slide into the seats across from Woojin and Jisung. "My watch says 7:45 mountain standard time." Woojin glances at his watch.

"Mine does too," Jisung adds, "Are we synced?"

Jeongin and Seungmin both just glare. "Whatever," Seungmin waves them off, "That's not important."

Jisung huffs, "Fine. This means we are on for the lunch period."

"Exactly 12:05." Woojin states.

Jeongin slides the laptop and webcam to the two, "Yes, Jisung, Woojin. We're a go."

"But, hey," Seungmin stops them before they can get up and leave. "We're not Charlie's Angels, okay?"

Seungmin and Jeongin grab their stuff to leave and Jisung and Woojin pout in tandem. "We can dream, can't we?" Woojin asks indignantly.

The bell ringing sends the four their separate ways. The laptop and webcame weigh heavily in Jisung hands as he rushes up the school steps. This was fine, he reminded himself. He needed to do this, and not for himself or for the team.

 _For Changbin_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jgodovoer you all better enjoy this update i had to watch hsm on my phone, write the chapter down by hand and then type it up on my phone rip :')


	10. When There Was Me and You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i haven't updated since before stray kids debuted aijdfijad but oh my god!! they debuted!! they've been doing so well in all of their performances and the album is SO GOOD!! i feel like a proud parent oh my god hnff i love them so much and i'm so proud of them!
> 
> ok ok that's all, i just had to express how happy i was for them. i hope you enjoy this chapter! (it's "angst" lol)

Five minutes before the bell rings for free period to begin, Changbin gets a text from Jisung to meet him and the rest of the team in the locker room. Changbin was a bit confused, because normally they didn’t  _ meet  _ anywhere before practice. The team would get in the locker room at different times, change, and be out in the gym before the bell rang. There wasn’t ever a need for them  _ all _ to meet before practice, and Changbin had a feeling that it was because of him and the musical thing.

Entering the locker room, he was confused by the silence as he passed by each section of lockers. He stops suddenly when he sees Jisung, Woojin, and the rest of the team standing around a table, multiple pictures, jerseys, trophies, and basketballs on top of the table. “‘Spider’ Bill Nitrine, class of 1972,” Jisung states, holding up a faded picture of some guy wearing a basketball jersey. “He was the MVP in the league championship game, the same one we’re playing in three days.”

Woojin holds up another slightly faded picture, “Sam Sandler, class of 2002,” He says, “Also known as Samma Slamma Jamma, captain,  _ and _ MVP of the league championship game.”

Another team member picks up a picture, “The Thunder Clap,” the team claps, “Hap Hadden, class of 1992. He led the Wildcats to two consecutive, back to back, league championships. A legend.”

“Ah!” Jisung exclaims, snapping, “ _ Legends _ . All of them. But do you think any of these Wildcats became legends by getting involved in  _ musical _ auditions just days before the league championship game?”

“No.” Woojin answers for Jisung, “These Wildcats became legends because they never took their eye off the prize, Changbin.”

Changbin slumps against the side of the doorframe. He knew they were right, and he knew how important this game was to the team. Hell, this game was  _ huge _ for Changbin, because even if he wanted to sing… he wanted to play ball more. 

“Now!” Jisung continues, “Who was the first freshman  _ EVER  _ to make starting varsity?”

“You.” Woojin points at Changbin.

“So who voted him captain as a junior?” 

“Us!”

“And who is going to get their sorry asses kicked at the league championship game on Friday if Changbin is worried about  _ musical _ auditions?” Jisung finishes, folding his arms.

“We are.” Woojin mutters, sitting on one of the benches.

Changbin throws his arms up, “Guys! Come on! There’s twelve people on this team and not just me, for a reason.”

Jisung cocks his head, “Just twelve?” He asks, “No, no, you’re forgetting one  _ very  _ important member of our squad.”

Woojin hands Jisung a picture frame, and Jisung hands it to Changbin. Changbin flips it over, and his heart sinks. “... My dad,” He says, staring at the picture of his Dad, wearing the same jersey Changbin wears now, holding the championship trophy.

“Yes, Changbin. Wildcat basketball  _ champion _ , class of 1987.” Jisung taps the picture, “Legend, father, and now? Coach. It’s a winning tradition like no other.”

Changbin sets the picture frame down onto the bench. “Guys… if you don’t think that I’m going to be putting 110% of myself into that game, then you don’t know me.”

Jisung deflates, “But we just thought--”

Changbin was heated now. He understood the importance of this game. He  _ knew _ they had to win, and he knew that he had to be all in. And he was! This musical thing was just a bleep on the radar. It wasn’t something that was going to turn into anything big. It was something he was doing because it was fun, but this game… this game was the most important thing to him and he wasn’t going to lose. He thought they had more faith in him than that.

“I’ll tell you what I thought. I thought that you guys were my friends! Lose together, win together,  _ teammates _ .” Changbin points at them.

Jisung makes a small motion behind him, and one of the team members opens up the laptop behind a propped up jersey, and slid it so the camera could film Changbin. “But… suddenly, the singing and Felix and--” Jisung starts.

“Jisung!” Changbin exclaims, “I’m  _ for  _ the team! I’ve always been for the team! He’s just some guy that I met okay? We’re friends, okay nothing more.”

Jisung opens his mouth, but Changbin wasn’t finished, they had gotten into his head, got him heated, and he wasn’t going to let them think that he wasn’t 100% into this team that he worked his ass off to get on. In his  _ freshman _ year.

“The singing thing? It’s nothing! It’s just like, a stress reliever, I don’t know,  _ but _ ! It means nothing to me. You’re my guys and this is our team. Felix isn’t important, okay? I’ll forget about him, forget about the audition, we’ll go out and get that fucking championship trophy! Everyone happy now?”

Jisung has to hide the smirk that wants to grace his face, “Yeah… yeah, okay. What team?!” He yells.

“Wildcats!” The team shouts back.

“What team?” 

“Wildcats!”

“Wildcats!”

“Get your head in the game!”

-

Across the school, Seungmin and Jisung had trapped Felix in one of the science classrooms with the other members of the scholastic decathlon team. There was a laptop set up on the desk, with a powerpoint presentation on it. “From lowly Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon,” Jeongin hits a clicker as Seungmin talks, pictures popping up on the screen, “to early warriors, medieval knights… all leading up to--”

Jeongin stands up, and unrolls a poster of Changbin playing basketball, the head inflated to a much too large size. “Lunkhead basketball man.” Seungin points.

Jeongin picks up, “Yes! Our culture worships this aggressor and has throughout the ages, and we’ve ended up with spoiled, overpaid, bonehead athletes who contribute little to society other than slam dunks and touchdowns.”

“aThat is the inevitable world of Mr. Seo Changbin,” Seungmin says, pointing at the poster.

Felix can’t help but smile at the over dramatic production that the duo was putting on. It was kind of cute, if he was being honest. 

“But,” Seungmin continues, “That path that we are on--the path of the mind. Ours’ is the path that has brought us these people.”

He clicks the clicker again as he speaks, “Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, Sandra Day O’Connor, Jane Goodall, hell, even Oprah Winfrey.” Pictures pass on the screen, “And so many others that the world reveres.”

Felix sits up, “Okay, but what is this? I… I’ve got Chan waiting for me to go and rehearse.” He says, going to stand up.

“Felix!” Jeongin exclaims, and Felix jumps, sitting back down. “Sorry… Seo Changbin… he represents one side of evolution.”

“Our side,” Seungmin cuts in, “Representing education and accomplishment, is the future of our society and civilization! This! This is the side where you belong.”

Jeongin hits a button on the computer screen, and Felix’s heart sinks when Changbin in the locker room pops up. “ 

“... _ The singing thing? It’s nothing! It’s just like, a stress reliever, I don’t know, but! It means nothing to me. You’re my guys and this is our team. Felix isn’t important, okay? I’ll forget about him, forget about the audition, we’ll go out and get that fucking championship trophy! Everyone happy now? _ ”

As Changbin talks, tears well up in Felix’s eyes.  _ Felix isn’t important _ ? He… he thought that… that they had something going, that there was something there beyond just singing partners. Apparently not, apparently all Felix was was a distraction from the stress of some basketball game.

“Behold lunkhead basketball man,” Seungmin says quietly.

Felix hangs his head as a tear falls, not really wanting Jeongin and Seungmin to see him crying, but already knowing that it was too late. “So, Felix,” Jeongin says gently, “We’d love to have you on our scholastic team.”

Felix only manages a small nod, wiping away a tear. “Did you want to go get some lunch with us?” Seungmin asks, and Felix shakes his head.

“Okay… well, we’ll be there if you want to come join us.” Jeongin rubs Felix’s shoulder encouragingly. 

The bell rings for lunch and Jeongin and Seungmin disappear out of the classroom and down the hallway. Felix can hear cheering and yelling from the courtyard and stands up to see what was happening. Changbin, Jisung, Woojin and the rest of the basketball squad were standing on top of the fountain in front of the school, helping the cheerleaders get the school “pepped up” for the game on Friday. Changbin looks so happy… like he really didn’t care about Felix or the auditions or any of it.

More tears fall as the team lifts Changbin onto his shoulder and those around them start chanting his name. Seeing Changbin so happy made him realize how  _ stupid _ he was to think that the star basketball player would ever care about someone like him. The freaky nerd kid who came from nowhere halfway through the school year.

It’s funny, he thinks, looking from the outside. He hadn’t been on this side of things since he had moved here as Changbin had seemingly taken him under the wing of the popular group. He had friends because of Changbin, and things were good, and now that he’s standing up here, looking down at that… He wants to be apart of it, he wants Changbin to care like Felix did.

He was just so fucking stupid. He knew that letting himself believe in Changbin and what they could possibly have was too good to be true. This entire thing, since the moment he moved here and saw Changbin, the boy from the resort, he knew that this was a miracle. And miracles don’t happen to people like Felix. Now that the seeming miracle had crashed and burned, Felix was left standing there alone, with used to be’s and once upon a song.

He should have known that fairytales didn’t exist and that dreams were meant for when you slept. Now, he’s looking at all of this, heartbroken and having to pretend that he doesn’t care, when in reality, he cares so much. He hadn’t known Changbin for long, but in the amount of time that he had, he felt like they connected. He felt like Changbin understood him on a different level, but now, it’s clear that everybody else could tell that he confused his feelings with the truth because he couldn’t see past this image he had dreamt up.

It’s just… Felix thought he knew! He thought that Changbin felt the same way that he did, especially when they sang together. When Changbin smiled at him… it felt like Felix was safe, and could sing along, and wouldn’t be judged. Things were good. But then it was like--it was like Changbin had changed the words and left Felix flailing to hold onto something. Now even he knows that he had confused his feelings for the truth.

It was like Changbin was using Felix. Felix was blinded by the star basketball player, and Changbin didn’t need him, but Felix needed Changbin. Changbin continued to float, and do well, and Felix… Felix fell, and didn’t care. He didn’t care, because he liked what was happening, and thought that Changbin felt it too, when they were together. 

Obviously, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

The bell rings, snapping Felix out of his thoughts and the crowd he had been watching, starts to disperse back into the school. Felix grabs his bag off of the floor, and wipes his face once more. 

He was stupid, but he wasn’t going to be stupid any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also i was rewatching this part of the movie and i'm... how BLIND was troy like?? the webcam thing was so fucking obvious like i don't think anyone could have made it MORE obvious what they were doing but troy just keeps going tf off without even questioning it??? okay?
> 
> ((also, if anyone cares, i've made 2 "stray kids as high school musical" videos on my youtube: xbandable! you should go check them out, i've been told they're hilarious)


	11. Even I Can Tell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i finished high school, and so now i'm at home all day with nothing to do so i've put that energy into writing more! hence why this chapter occurred so quickly.
> 
> ((can we talk about stray kids on asc?? it was amazing and i couldn't stop smiling for the entire hour!))

Felix stops at his locker before heading to his next period. He wanted to go as quickly as possible, not wanting to see anyone so soon after crying his heart out.

It didn’t seem like luck was on his side, however, as a body leans up next to him on the lockers. “Hey! How’re you doing?”

It was Changbin. Felix kept his eyes down as he looks at the textbook in his hands. There was only a second of awkward silence before Changbin continued, “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Felix’s heart sinks, and he doesn’t want to hear everything from Changbin all over again. Once was enough. He clutches his text book to his chest as he finally turns to Changbin. “And here it is,” Felix starts, “I know what it’s like to carry a load with your friends. You’ve got your guys, Changbin, and it’s fine. We’re good.”

Changbin furrows his eyebrows, “Good about what?” He asks, “I wanted to talk to you about final callbacks.”

Felix gives half of a nod, “I don’t wanna do the callbacks either.”

Changbin’s eyes widen, but Felix keeps talking, “I mean, who are we trying to kid? You’ve got your team and I’ve got mine. I’m going to do the scholastic decathlon, and you’ll win the championships. It’s where we belong.” Felix pulls out the sheet music from his locker and hands it to Changbin, “Go, Wildcats, right?”

Changbin was so confused. What changed? Why did Felix suddenly not want to be around him? Felix was so excited to do the callbacks. How come, so suddenly, he didn’t want to do them? “But, I--”

“Bye, Changbin.” Felix says, closing his locker and walking off toward his next period class.

Changbin stands there in the middle of the crowded hallway for a moment, before turning and calling out, “Felix?” But he was already gone in the mass of students.

Changbin decides he has to go to practice still, even if that’s the last thing he wanted to do currently. He wanted to seek out Felix, talk to him and figure out where things went so horribly wrong. He know, though, that if he were to miss practice again, everything he had convinced the others of that morning would have been worthless. So, he put on his gym pants and sweatshirt and headed to the outside court where the rest of the team was.

“Hey, captain!” Jisung says, happily, going to hand Changbin a basketball.

Changbin doesn’t give Jisung a glance, just side-steps him and heads toward the track. Woojin comes up behind Jisung, “What’s up with Changbin?”

“I… Don’t worry about it.” Jisung says, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

Woojin watches Changbin run the track, “Yeah… yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

-

The next day comes, and Changbin doesn’t see Felix anywhere. He wasn’t sure that Felix was avoiding him until he spots him in the lunchroom, walking the long way around the perimeter to avoid having to walk past the basketball kid’s table. Changbin watches as Felix sits down at an empty table, ignoring Seungmin and Jeongin’s attempts to call him over.

Changbin sighs, standing up, “Where are you going?” Jisung asks, having just walked over.

Changbin looks at him, shakes his head, and disappears out of the lunch room. Jisung looks over and catches Seungmin’s eyes. Seungmin looks guilty, and gestures Jisung over, “Hey.” He says, sliding into the empty seat.

“Hi.” Seungmin responds.

It’s silent for a moment, “We messed up, didn’t we?”

“I… I didn’t realize how badly this was going to affect them.” Seungmin admits. “I wanted Felix to join our decathlon team so badly, that I didn’t realize that by tearing him and Changbin apart… I wouldn’t be doing him any favors.”

Jisung sighs, “Yeah… and Coach talked to me this morning… apparently Changbin was practicing outside last night and couldn’t score a single basket. He’s worried that something’s wrong and asked me to talk to Changbin, because if Changbin isn’t making any baskets, then we’re screwed for Friday.”

“We have to fix this, don’t we?” Seungmin mutters, resting his face in his hands.

“If we want Felix and Changbin back? And to not hate us?” Jisung matches Seungmin’s pose, “I don’t think we have a choice.”

Seungmin sits up, “Better late than never, right?”

Jisung takes Woojin with him, heading toward the roof garden. He knew that Changbin thought that him and Woojin didn’t know about it, but they did. They also knew that it was where Changbin liked to be by himself, so they weren’t going to bother him about hanging out with a bunch of plants at school sometimes. “Hey,” Jisung says quietly, making their presence known.

Changbin looks up, acknowledging their presence, but doesn’t say anything else. “We just had another team meeting.” Woojin says.

Changbin groans, putting his head in his hands, “Wonderful.”

Jisung sighs, and then restarts. “No, we-we. We had a team meeting about how we haven’t been acting like a team. I mean us,” He gestures toward Woojin and himself, “not you. And so, about the singing thi--”

Changbin cuts him off with a wave, “Look, dude, I don’t even want to talk about it.”

“We just want you to know,” Woojin says, “That we’re going to be there. Cheering for you.”

Changbin looks up at them, eyebrows furrowed, “What?”

“Yeah, if singing is something you want to do, we should be boosting you up, not tearing you down. Win or lose, we’re teammates.” Jisung says, “And more than that, we’re your friends.”

“Even if you turn out to be the worst singer in the world,” Woojin sits next to Changbin on the bench. “Which, you know, we don’t know because we haven’t actually heard you sing before.”

“And you’re not going to hear me sing, guys,” Changbin stands up, “because Felix won’t even talk to me and I don’t know why.”

Jisung and Woojin make eye contact before Jisung takes a deep breath, “We do.”

Woojin unzips a pocket on his bag. “I made these fresh today,” He tells Changbin as he hands him the bag, “You might want to eat one before we tell you the rest.”

-

Seungmin and Jeongin find Felix in one of the science classrooms on the opposite side of the school. “Felix…” Seungmin starts, “We were jerks… no, we were worse than jerks, because we were mean jerks.”

“We thought that Changbin and the whole singing thing was killing any chance we had of getting you to join our scholastic decathlon team.” Jeongin explains.

Felix looks at the duo exasperated. He didn’t understand why they were still talking about this. They knew he was hurt by what had happened, and nothing they said mattered because what happened happened. “I heard what he had to say. I’m on your team now. Done.” Felix says.

“No,” Seungmin puts a hand on Felix’s, “Not done… We knew that Jisung could get Changbin to say those things… the things that made you want to forget about the callbacks.”

Jeongin steps next to Seungmin, “We planned it all out, and we’re embarrassed and we’re sorry.”

Felix scoffs, “No one forced Changbin to say anything. But you know what? It’s okay. We should be worrying about the decathlon now. I’ve moved on, and it’s your guys’ turn to as well."

“No, it’s not okay!” Seungmin exclaims, “The decathlon is whatever, but how you feel about us--more importantly, how you feel about Changbin, that’s what really matters.”

Felix looks at the duo for a few seconds, before shaking his head and turning back to his textbook before going to write something down on the whiteboard. Seungmin sighs, and Jeongin puts a hand on his shoulder as they leave, “We tried our best.” Jeongin says and then Felix’s surrounded by silence as he tries to figure out the problem.

The way you feel about Changbin is what really matters, echoes in his head and he scoffs. How can he feel anything but resent toward Changbin when he said those things about Felix? It doesn’t matter that Jisung thought he could make Changbin say those things, he couldn’t actually force him to. Doesn’t the fact that Changbin said them mean anything? Aren’t they something like his deep thoughts about Felix and what was occurring? It doesn’t matter what motivated him to say the things he did, he said them anyway.

He wasn’t mad at Seungmin or Jeongin, but he just wanted to stop talking about what had happened between him and Changbin and focus at the tasks at hand: the decathlon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think that there's probably 3-4 (?) more chapters left until i finish the plot line of the first movie. if enough people want me to, i'll create a series and continue this into the second movie! (i don't know if anyone's done that lol)


	12. Wipe Away Your Inhibitions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm posting two chapters in two days,, what
> 
> lol i really want to just crank out these last few chapters because i'm super super excited to finish this fic! :-) 
> 
> i'm super super appreciative of all of your guys' sweet comments and for leaving kudos. it means the world to me, and i'm glad you guys enjoy my writing! (even if half of it's just from the movie lol)

Changbin pauses in front of Felix’s house and takes a deep breath. He needed to see Felix and apologize for the things that he said, and convince him to do the callbacks still. Felix didn’t deserve any of this, and Changbin was going to do whatever he could to make things better.

He walks up to the door, and knocks. He doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until a woman answers the door and he exhales. “Hi, Miss Lee, uh--I’m Changbin.” He introduces.

“Oh!” She says surprised, “Changbin!”

There are light footsteps in the background and she glances back before turning to Changbin, “Uh, Felix is kind of busy with homework right now, so now isn’t really a good time.”

“I made a mistake, Miss Lee.” Changbin says, “And I’d really like to tell Felix that… uh, could you tell him that I came by to see him?”

“I will,” She says smiling at Changbin, before shutting the door. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, thank you.” Changbin says.

He sighs after the door, before making an impulsive decision, and going around to the back of the house. He understood that he was doing something… illegal, but he really needed to talk to Felix. When he’s in their backyard, he pulls out his phone and dials Felix’s number.

-

Felix’s phone rings, again, and he sighs picking it up from his bedside table and setting his math textbook again. ‘Changbin’ flashes across the screen and he groans before picking up, “Hello?”

“What you heard the other day,” Changbin starts quickly, “none of that is true. I was sick and tired of my friends bothering me about singing and basketball, so I said things to shut them up. I didn’t mean any of it!”

Felix turns on his lamp, “You sounded pretty convincing to me.”

“Listen, the guy you met at the resort over break… he’s way more me than the guy who said all of those stupid things.” Changbin continues.

Felix groans again, “Changbin, the whole singing thing is making the entire school go crazy! You said so yourself, everyone is treating you differently because of it.”

“That’s because I don’t want to be just seen as the basketball guy! No one can handle it, and that’s their problem, not ours.”

“What about your Dad?” Felix mutters, quieter now as Changbin continues to talk.

“This isn’t about my dad, either. This is about how I feel and what I want. I’m not letting my team down, they let me down. So, I’m going to sing. What about you?”

Felix leans against his wall, “I don’t know, Changbin.”

“Well, you need to say yes because… because I brought you something.” Changbin says.

Felix furrows his eyebrows, pushing himself up to stand. “What do you mean?”

“Turn around.” Changbin says.

Felix turns around and jumps when he sees Changbin on his balcony. He hangs up his phone quickly, throwing it onto his bed as he rushes over and pulls the balcony door open. “What the hell are you doing?” He whisper shouts.

Changbin just smiles, and then starts to sing the song that the duo had sung at the ski resort just a month ago. Things changed so quickly in this past month, and Felix smiles as Changbin sings to him, tears filling his eyes. Changbin finishes, and holds up the music sheet Felix had handed to him the day before, “It’s a pairs audition.” Changbin points out.

Felix wipes his face, before walking over and taking the music sheet from Changbin. He looks down at the notes and lyrics on the sheet, and takes a moment to think about what had happened.

Changbin had said some really… mean things about him. He had made it out to be like he didn’t want to be around Felix, and especially didn’t want to sing with him. But then, he comes to his house to apologize. Changbin scaled the side of Felix’s house just to come up on his balcony and sing the song that had started it all for them.

Thinking back to the feeling he got on stage at the ski resort, Changbin singing next to him… he realized he wanted to feel that again. He wanted to be up on stage again, singing. Even more so than that, he wanted to do it all with Changbin.

He turns toward Changbin, who was looking at him hopefully. “I think you’re an idiot for climbing the side of my house but… but I’ll do it.”

Changbin lets out an excited yelp and pulls Felix into a hug, “Sh! Don’t let my mom hear!” Felix laughs as Changbin spins him around before setting him back on his feet.

“I promise, this will be the start of something new.” Changbin says, “I’m not going to be the person who said those things, ever again.”

Felix grins, “I’m counting on it.”

Despite deciding to do the musical callbacks, Felix and Changbin both decided to keep with the things they had committed to before. Changbin was on time and focused at practices, and he could tell everyone else was excited that he was back. The feeling he got out on the court was the same feeling he had gotten on stage, and he was so ready to kick some ass at the championship game in two days.

Felix, on the other hand, decided to continue helping Seungmin and Jeongin with the scholastic decathlon. He wasn’t going to lie and say that he wasn’t smart, because he was, and Seungmin told Felix that with his help they were almost guaranteed a win at the decathlon on Friday.

After practice, Changbin changed quickly and rushed to meet Felix in the music room to practice with Chan.

They should have known that things would only continue to go well for so long. They should have known something was going to ruin it. And that something came in the form of Hyunjin and Minho.

Changbin and Felix were practicing when Hyunjin walked by with Minho, singing their song quietly to himself. He stops, forcing Minho to as well, when he heard Changbin and Felix singing.

Both him and Minho lean a bit closer to the door, and then Hyunjin gasps. “Wow, they sound good!” Minho says worriedly to Hyunjin.

Hyunjin scoffs, walking over to the door. There was no way that that was Felix and Changbin. He glances into the small window and turns, pressing his back against the door dramatically. “We have to do something!” He says to Minho.

He quickly walks back over to Minho and they fall into step together as they hurry down the hallway. “Okay. Our callbacks are on Thursday, and the game and scholastic decathlon are on Friday.” Hyunjin says, thinking, “Too bad all these events weren’t happening on the same day… at the same time.”

Minho furrows his eyebrows, “But then that wouldn’t work out because Felix and Changbin wouldn’t be able to make it… ooooh.”

“Yeah.” Hyunjin says, and Minho grins.

“I like the way you think.” Minho points at Hyunjin and nods.

“I know!” Hyunjin says happily as they turn into the theater room where Miss Darbus was.

“Miss Darbus! I think we need to change the callback time to Friday.” Hyunjin says once Miss Darbus looks over at them.

She furrows his eyebrows, “What? Why?”

Hyunjin puts a fake smile on his face, “Well… as we both know, Felix and Changbin both have other commitments in their lives. Felix has the scholastic decathlon team and Changbin has his sports. We’re worried that if they get the leads, they won’t be committed all the time to come to rehearsals and performances! If we change the callback time to when they both have other things occurring, we can see where their loyalties really lie.”

Miss. Darbus looks at them thoughtfully, thinking. “You’re right…” She says. “As our co-presidents of the drama club, if you two think that changing our callback time would be what’s best for our theater program then, I agree with you.”

Hyunjin and Minho grin excitedly. “Callbacks will be on Friday.” She says, and stands up, “See you then.”

She leaves the classroom, and Hyunjin and Minho turn to each other. They high five, and turn to leave the theater room, never once seeing Chan sitting in the back corner working on music.

Chan sighs, putting his pencil down on the desk. There goes his chances of working with people who actually respect him as a writer and composer. It was fun while it lasted.

 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr!](http://bandablee.tumblr.com/)
> 
> follow me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/xbandable)


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